terrific online travel planning resources

Vacations are absolutely awesome! Where would you like to go? Imagine right now getting onto a plane and stepping into a different world!It sounds amazing doesn’t it?You can hop on a plane and step into a different world so much easier nowadays. But it's easy to forget how much some good planning and detailed organization goes into traveling and is much needed. If you're like us, you just want to get to the beach and avoid all the prep time. To help you do that, we're sharing some great tools and resources that we use for inspiration, planning and sharing.

This handy dandy travel app helps you keep track of your flight and hotel information in a pleasing and intuitive interface. Simply forward your airline and hotel confirmation emails to a TripCase email address and it’ll populate your trip information. If you forget to do that or something changes on the fly (which never happens, of course), you can enter your new confirmation numbers very easily. In the app, you can check the weather and view maps for each leg of your exciting trip. Plus, you’ll receive real time flight updates and get needed phone numbers for airlines and hoteliers. If you're traveling with a group, you can even email friends and family with updates and track multiple trips.

2.Trippy-

Trippy is a community of travel enthusiasts from all over the world that post and answer questions, as well as share travel pictures and experiences. This is a fun site to visit.This community takes itself seriously in a fun way. To get an account, you have to submit your information and then wait for an invitation, but worth the initial effort. This process means that just about every conversation on Trippy offers really helpful tips and information. It's a great place to discover ideas for a vacation that's absolutely perfect for you.

3. SpeechTrans-

You can break down language barriers with this popular translation app. It's received quite a bit of notoriety from the likes of NBC, Wired and even USA Today. In addition to translating text messages and speech, SpeechTrans will translate signs. All you have to do is take a picture and highlight the words you want translated. This feature alone can help you feel more grounded and oriented in the destination of your choice.No need to worry about how to get by in the country of your choice, this app helps you feel more confident in your own abilities to navigate a foreign land!

Are you trying to pick a seat on a plane, but you aren't familiar with the layout of a 757-200? Well, then simply head over to Seat Guru. Not only can you search the seating arrangements for all sorts of aircrafts, the seats with particular advantages or disadvantages are noted as well. You can browse by airline, or you can search for your particular flight to see the type of plane you'll be flying on.This is a great way to put your mind at ease.

5. TripFilms-

Browse a wealth of travel videos highlighting destinations all over the world. Tripfilms is super cool for two reasons. First, it hosts a community of travelers, posting their videos and sharing experiences. So you can easily show off your amazing trip to friends and family. And once you join that community, Tripfilms even rewards you with points (redeemable for things like Amazon gift cards) for simply uploading your own travel videos. Secondly, Tripfilms features tons of more produced videos from individuals, businesses and the Tripfilm staff, so you get a more polished footage of all the beautiful locales. Seeing these places through other people's eyes can truly help you decide which destination will look best through yours.

6. Independent Traveler - Packing in the Advice-

The Independent Traveler has done a superb job of centralizing quite a bit of packing advice into one place. Are you an over-packer like me? There's an article for packing light. Are you going on your first trip? There's a great checklist and a “Packing 101 Guide”. Are you unsure what kind of packer you are? There's a neat quiz to help you find out. All this advice plus an interactive packing list will certainly help you get to the beach with everything you need.

7. Conde Nast Traveler - Tech Guide and Reader's Choice-

Need help assembling your perfect arsenal of travel tech stuff? This section of the Conde Nast Traveler website is a very helpful guide. They group their reviews and reports into sections, including great devices for families, wanderers and adventurers. Once you're teched up, check out Conde Nast's annual Reader Choice Awards for cool ideas on super places to go. Readers vote on their favorite destinations, thereby creating a short list of cool places to visit. It's a great place to see what other people are raving about and get some ideas for your next vacation!

8. National Geographic Travel-

Take National Geographic's beautiful imagery and excellent reporting and focus it on travel. You'll be dreaming of your next 2 or 3 vacations to Mexico and the Caribbean. A whole section called Trip Ideas is dedicated to sharing different kinds of travel experiences, from beaches to family vacations and much more. Read various blog posts and detailed destination guides; browse gorgeous pictures; get sound, practical advice from travelers: these ideas and insights will definitely get your vacation gears turning in a positive direction!